Can my employer refuse a flexible working request?

The statutory right — a day-one right for all employees since 6 April 2024 — is to request flexible working and have that request handled properly, not to have it granted. But your employer's room to say no is tightly framed.

The only valid grounds for refusal

A refusal must rest on one or more of the eight statutory grounds:

• The burden of additional costs
• Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• Inability to recruit additional staff
• Detrimental impact on quality or on performance
• Insufficient work during the hours you propose to work
• Planned structural changes to the business

Procedure matters as much as the grounds. Your employer must consult you before refusing — giving you the chance to answer their concerns or suggest alternatives — must give written reasons referencing the statutory grounds, and must conclude the whole process within two months unless you agree an extension. You can make two statutory requests in any 12-month period, and your request can cover hours, days, compressed or annualised hours, job sharing, or working from home.

If your request is refused or ignored

Work through the options in order:

• Appeal internally if a process exists, and put your counter-arguments in writing.
• Consider discrimination: if, for example, a woman's reduced-hours request for childcare is refused while others are accommodated, the refusal may be indirect sex discrimination as well as a flexible working breach.
• Employment Tribunal: where the employer missed the two-month deadline, failed to consult, refused on grounds not on the statutory list, or relied on incorrect facts, a tribunal can order the request to be reconsidered and award up to eight weeks' pay in compensation.

One more protection worth knowing: once a request has been agreed, it becomes a contractual variation — your employer cannot simply change their mind later without your agreement.